Friday, May 25, 2012

Don't get me wrong, weight loss is amazing. You wake up with more energy, confidence goes through the roof, shopping is a bit more fun and you don't dread it as much because there is options now. We won't even talk about the health wise benefits, because that is just a given.

But weight loss has a downside. It's not enough to discourage anyone from it , but its there and I want to talk about it so you won't be shocked if it happens to you.

1. Forgetting to eat. When you are fat all you think about is food. Food is a constant thought in your mind, you are thinking and planning your next meal from the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep. When you have lost weight, naturally you eat less and some days you can even forget meals. With more energy you are so busy, forgetting a meal happens. I know all my fluffy friends are thinking "no way not possible, I so wish that could happen to me". I use to have the same thoughts and now that is happening to me, I realize its not good. I can't even tell you the amount of days that by 3 pm and I am ready to pass out and I realize how exhausted/drained I really am because I haven't eaten since 7am.

2.No matter how much weight you have lost or how small you are, your problems will still be there and more pronounced. When you are fat and have size 2 visions, you think "If only I was skinny, I would have no problems" and you think every skinny person got their shit together and are happier, b/c well they are skinny. Newsflash, that is not true o.O. Granted I am not a size 2 yet, doubt I will ever be, but I am 10 sizes lower than what I started so I can commet. I still have the same problems as I had before, life still throws crap in my way, but bc I am not carrying around extra weight, it seems easier to deal with.

3. Skin won't bounce back. You might weight less than what you did in high school, work out like a fanatic, but your skin will never look the same. Things will sag and hang. I actually think my skin looks worse than before, because before it had something to fill it up, but now there is nothing. Picture a month old balloon, its not as pretty as a brand new filled balloon right?? Well that is the same with your skin. Dreams of wearing a 2 piece this summer are rapidly fadding. Unless there is extensive plastic surgery in my future, I won't be in a 2 piece any time soon. That was a big shock and dissapointment. After everything, I still don't have the body to pose nude for playboy :(

4. It costs $100 to resize your rings and you will need to have them all resized because them spinning is very annoying. Same with your watch.

5. Yours once overly confident husband will have doubts and some low self esteem. He might question if after all this weight loss and confidence booster, you will leave him. You will have to continue to reassure him that thats not the case and you are not shallow. Even though every time you pass mirror now (dressed) you smile at your image.

6. Replacing your whole closet and loosing your favorite outfits sucks. It sucks even more that until you are completely done with your weight loss, you can only get a few staple pieces because if not you are going to quickly loose them. Finding new favorite outfits can be a pain (I don't know if that is for everyone or if it only applies to me that don't love to shop).

7. Even the lower sizes, depending on the brands can vary. I can't just grab something and buy it without trying it on. Because I can range between 3 sizes depending on the store.

8. Your favorite boots and some shoes will need to be replaced. Talk about a big shock. I had no idea, but your feet can go down in size and since your calfs are smaller, your favorite boots will just look stupid. I have brand new uggs that I only got to wear 1 season and now won't stay up and my feet are sliding inside of them :(. Same with my pair of "fuck me boots". They were gorgeous high leather boots that I spent a small fortune on and love them. Yeah anyone wants one??

9. If someone doesn't like you, now you know its you. When you are fat, you think if someone doesn't like you its because you are fat and fat people disgust them (hey I never said we didn't have issues ;)), now if someone doesn't like you, it hurts even more because you know its about your personality and not your weight.

10. Finding things to eat is a pain. Restaurant eating and fast food is not made for people on their quest of their perfect size. The portions are huge and while there is one or two things in the menu you can eat, the majority are not made for you. Don't get me wrong, I still pretty much eat whatever I want, just in extremely small portions and I am very picky of how I spend my calories. I don't know if this is just a side effect of weight loss surgery in general, or if the rest of the population on their weight loss quest feels the same way, but there it is.

Now I realize this sounds like a very depressing post and one would wonder why would want to even go through the hassles of it after this?? That was not my intention. Trust me the upside is there. The pros outweigh the cons any day of the week and there is millions of websites and lists that you can find online that will talk about that, but that you already know and don't need me to repeat it. I wanted to post this because no one really talks about it, and as I am going through my journey there were shocks along the way like these and other things that really messed with my head and I wished I was more informed about it, so that is the purpose of this post, just to inform you so your shock won't be as huge as mine.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Yes, yes I do and I love it. After talking to so many people over the years, I have come to the conclusion I am unique. I like cooking and baking. It relaxes me and unwinds me. I will be up at 2am just baking to my hearts content. Sometimes dinner is done by 3 pm and I have to keep reheating. Other times even, I will cook dinner than still have the itch to cook so I will prepare the next days dinner, bake a cake and make muffins.
With my husband gone, I have to really tone down on the amount I bake since there is only so much small children can eat. I do take stuff to the fire department and give it away to friends, but its still not enough and I am sure that secretly they think I am insane. You should have just seen the look the firefighter got when he helped me unload 48 muffins, 2 breads, and 3 cakes that I had baked all for them.

Today I had an urge to just cook to my hearts content. The kids were playing with playdoh after eating this delicious breakfast :

Breakfast I have the hardest time. I don't like giving them cereal and I don't have a habit to eat cereal. Its not a brazillian thing ;) also poptarts makes me shudder. I honestly think they are absolute nasty. Hey I said I was unique read weird!! so they get oatmeal, yogurt, homemade pancakes, homemade waffles, and during the weekends I make eggs or omelets but its still not enough. I get bored after eating the same couple things, I am guessing the kids are the same because they haven't really been wanting to eat their breakfast and since I am trying to wade through the hundreds of pins I have on pintrest, the winner became this yogurt strawberry cake:

recipe : Cake
It does take some sugar (that I toned down with splenda and brown sugar) and some buttermilk (that I subbed for milk/lemon juice) but overall its pretty healthy. So I made it and OMG its so good. Definitely a keeper and it would have been wonderful if I stopped at that. But of course not. Since I had everything out I also decided to make some banana bread, pumpkin muffins, pork chops with sweetpotato hash and dinner is sitting in the crockpot already. I am also debating on making a pretzel strawberry torte that everyone keeps raving about it. I am telling you I have issues..lol.

ps. If you have any new ideas that you can share on what to feed kids breakfast please share. I am not a huge breakfast fan (I like breakfast food for dinner) and I am perfectly content with just a cup of ice coffee, but unfortunately kids don't do well with coffee. Darn!!!

Sunday, May 13, 2012

May your children never embarrass you.
May your boobs never hang lower than your skirt
May your life be filled with delicious kisses and hugs instead of tantrums and No's
May your days be full of giggles and laughter instead of anger
May everyone that you encounter praise your children instead of making smart ass comments
May your child learn everything that you have taught them instead of the complete opposite.
May you never run out of wine or coffee
Happy mother's day everyone :)

Friday, May 11, 2012

You know I haven't written anything in so long I should talk about the important things like
*how I survived another move with 2 kids and little drama
*how living down the road from my best friend is wonderful
*how accounting is kicking my ass and making me debate changing my major again *Insanity I tell you*
*or how my liberal arts class has made me start a blog
*I could also talk about all the joys of buying a car alone with a power of attorney and how when you can negotiate an amazing deal on an awesome car with tons of cup holders, you feel really good.
*I definitely could talk about how I am down almost 60lbs and have to break down and get clothes because saggy undies is just not sexy at all
I could talk about so much, but honestly I am not going to bore you with the details. I am not going to talk about any of that (well I kind of just did but roll with me), I am going to talk about the joy and pure happiness of living in a place you finally enjoy. With the military and contracting now we have moved, and moved and moved. I have had way too many addresses in various parts of the country. Some were great some so so. In the military it's all about "blooming where you are planted". I have talked about this before, and honestly I tried. I really tried but I wilted. I didn't bloom. As soon as I stepped off the plane here in VA, I took a deep breath, felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders and I smiled. This town is amazing, there is so much to do, so many activities, everything is so close by. There is humidity and seasons, there is rain and sunshine. There is humidity. Gosh I love humidity. My skin is all soft again, my daughter got her curls back and its all good in the neighborhood. So my long drawn out point is find your happiness. If you are not happy somewhere, don't suck it up, try to figure out where you would be happy and make it happen. Works towards because some things will make you happy and some things wont and its okay and absolutely normal. Sucking up and plastering a smile on your face when you don't feel takes too much energy. I been unhappy and now I am happy and I am not going back.
Love A